Three Friends. Three ‘Perfect’ Lives. Here Comes Trouble.
Wahala follows the story of three female besties who are drawn to each other because of their background in a country where they feel like aliens. The book starts on an exciting note and it is dramatic until the end; it does not slow down.
It is the author’s debut novel, published in 2022.
Greetings, once again dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.
Today’s newsletter is a guest feature by Roving, a Bibliophile who enjoys reading books and writing about them. Sometimes, she writes other things too.
Bukola (called Boo) is married to Didier, a French man who loves her so much and she has a cute and lively daughter called Sofia. Ronke is dating Kayode, but the girls think he's not good enough for her. Simi, the third member of this trio, struggles with life and expectations, which she attempts to shield herself from with her bogus fashion. Everything seems to be going well until Isobel comes into the picture.
“pre-Isobel, their friendships had been rock solid. Now there were cracks.”
Isobel, like them, has two heritages—she is both Nigerian and Russian. However, unlike them, she's very rich and powerful. In this story, we see money as both a sword that destroys, as well as a shield that protects (maybe a perpetrator of a crime from the consequences of their crime).
The story largely explores female friendships and the standards they hold the significant others of their friends. It is way easier for a woman to forgive her significant other than for her friends to do so when something happens.
Another thing the author points out is secrecy. Many people don't talk about their pasts to new people. From an ex to a failed non-sexual relationship, names may be mentioned but there are hardly any details. I feel that if there were no secrets between the friends, things could have turned out differently for them.
Wahala is enchanting and you find yourself eager to know the end, but you also want to savour the moments you have with the book. It has a lot of wahala in it, all of which can be traced to the coming of Isobel. The typical Nigerian may even find themselves saying "wahala" at some things that happen in this story.
“And if you took risks, you had to accept responsibility when things went wrong.”
As humans, we take risks from time to time and even the choice not to take a risk is a risk in itself. We should learn to take responsibility for the things we do, as we are accountable for our actions. Also, communication is important instead of bottling things in and making assumptions.
I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend it if you’re looking for a lovely read.
Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Kindly leave a comment.
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